Dr. Andrew Wakefield is being discredited to prevent an historic study from being published that for the first time looks at vaccinated versus unvaccinated primates and compares health outcomes, with potentially devastating consequences for vaccine makers and public health officials.

It is our most sincere belief that Dr. Wakefield and parents of children with autism around the world are being subjected to a remarkable media campaign engineered by vaccine manufacturers reporting on the retraction of a paper published in The Lancet in 1998 by Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues.

The retraction from The Lancet was a response to a ruling from England’s General Medical Council, a kangaroo court where public health officials in the pocket of vaccine makers served as judge and jury. Dr. Wakefield strenuously denies all the findings of the GMC and plans a vigorous appeal.

Despite rampant misreporting, Dr. Wakefield’s original paper regarding 12 children with severe bowel disease and autism never rendered any judgment whatsoever on whether or not vaccines cause autism, and The Lancet’s retraction gets us no closer to understanding this complex issue.

Dr. Wakefield is one of the world’s most respected and well-published gastroenterologists. He has published dozens of papers since 1998 in well-regarded peer-reviewed journals all over the world. His work documenting the bowel disease of children with autism and his exploration of novel ways to treat bowel disease has helped relieve the pain and suffering of thousands of children with autism.

For the past decade, parents in our community have been clamoring for a relatively simple scientific study that could settle the debate over the possible role of vaccines in the autism epidemic once and for all: compare children who have been vaccinated with children who have never received any vaccines and see if the rate of autism is different or the same.

Few people are aware that this extremely important work has not only begun, but that a study using an animal model has already been completed exploring this topic in great detail.

Dr. Wakefield is the co-author, along with eight other distinguished scientists from institutions like the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Kentucky, and the University of Washington, of a set of studies that explore the topic of vaccinated versus unvaccinated neurological outcomes using monkeys.

The first phase of this monkey study was published three months ago in the prestigious medical journal Neurotoxicology, and focused on the first two weeks of life when the vaccinated monkeys received a single vaccine for Hepatitis B, mimicking the U.S. vaccine schedule. The results, which you can read for yourself HERE, were disturbing. Vaccinated monkeys, unlike their unvaccinated peers, suffered the loss of many reflexes that are critical for survival.

Dr. Wakefield and his scientific colleagues are on the brink of publishing their entire study, which followed the monkeys through the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule over a multi-year period. It is our understanding that the difference in outcome for the vaccinated monkeys versus the unvaccinated controls is both stark and devastating.

There is no question that the publication of the monkey study will lend substantial credibility to the theory that over-vaccination of young children is leading to neurological damage, including autism. The fallout from the study for vaccine makers and public health officials could be severe. Having denied the possibility of the vaccine-autism connection for so long while profiting immensely from a recent boom in vaccine sales around the world, it’s no surprise that they would seek to repress this important work.

Behind the scenes, the pressure to keep the work of Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues from being published is immense, and growing every day. Medical journals take extreme risk of backlash in publishing any studies that question the safety of the vaccination program, no matter how well-designed and thorough the research might be. Neurotoxicology, a highly-respected medical journal, deserves great credit for courageously publishing the first phase of this vaccinated monkey study.

The press has been deeply misled in the way The Lancet retraction, and Dr. Wakefield’s mock trial, have been characterized. Led by the pharmaceutical companies and their well-compensated spokespeople, Dr. Wakefield is being vilified through a well-orchestrated smear campaign designed to prevent this important new work from seeing the light of day.

What medical journal would want to step in front of this freight train? Moreover, why now, after 12 years of inaction, did The Lancet and GMC suddenly act? Is it coincidence that the monkey study is currently being submitted to medical journals for review and publication?

We urge the media to take a close look at the first phase of the monkey study discussed above and to start asking a very simple question: What was the final outcome of the 14 primates that were vaccinated using the U.S. vaccine schedule and how did that compare to the unvaccinated controls?

The U.S. vaccine schedule has grown from 10 vaccines given to our children in the 1980s to 36 today, perfectly matching the dramatic rise in autism. The work of Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues deserves to be shared with the world to further, rather than censor, scientific progress.

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I am aware this is not the most important matter in this tripe of a statement, but it's annoyed me anyway: it is not "England's General Medical Council", but the General Medical Council of the United Kingdom.

Sometimes the witch hunt of Andrew Wakefield looks like more than just a campaign by a huge industry to discredit any research found against them. Sometimes it looks like mass brainwashing. In the UK we hear nothing accept how wrong, criminal and harmful he has been. None of this rings true. If any reporting of the British Medical Journal and The Lancet being linked to the Merck empire has got through, I have not been able to find it yet.

Hello To All I am speaking from two prospectives one from a mother who didn't vaccinate and also from a person who works in
alternative health care services that has decades of experience in finding and working on
those of us with environmental toxicity. My children had a huge advantage over others in my opinion as they were dubbed (gifted)possible
advantage because of not being vaccinated? At least they did not have that lifelong burden to carry. I have personally talked to and shared the pain of those parents who have lost
their children to vaccine injury. Also recently saw an 18 mo. old with admitted vaccine injury. ( Received the prepared multiple vaccine for another child and immediately went into seizure.) So, while facts and figures are being thrown around. Our
loved ones are being injured unnecessarily. With the promotion of people who are NOT IN THE TRENCHES with the resulting suffering.
Why don't we just stop it and FIND OUT FIRST!
If anybody believes that we have chemical deficiences in our body. Where are the receptor sites? Is there a receptor site in the body for MERCURY? Why did our ancestors LIVE without all these chemicals? Do chemicals, heavy metals, foreign tissues introduced into the blood stream of children with undeveloped immune systems really strengthen the immune systems? What about the toxic loads we all deal with everyday. Could this be adding to it? Is there a cumilitive build up. Was the liver ( which does most of the work of detoxifying the body) designed to
filter out these designer chemicals? STOP PLAYING AROUND WITH PEOPLES LIVES. THERE ARE
healthier ways to deal with infection!!!

There has been a change in the diagnostic methods for autism in children. One interesting change is that all nurses (and some Medical Laboratory Technicians) are being offered continuing education credit through an on-line training program conducted by, "Advance for Nurses". These training programs help nurses to identify very subtle difference in healthy verses autistic children. A nurse who observes these changes can then make a referral for the child to be evaluated. Because of this, many more children are being referred and evaluated, hence a dramatic increase in the number of children who are diagnosed.
Another benefit is that children are being identified earlier, when intervention is most effective.

I'm 53 and I honestly never heard much about autism until my 30s. Pediatricians did not perform any evaluations for autism during routine well baby care. Many children completely escaped diagnosis. I'm not completely surprised by the increases in the number of reported cases of autism, there have always been children who didn't speak or respond socially, we just didn't have a name for the condition. My mother was a Special Education Teacher for both mentally ill and mentally retarded children. She supervised two classrooms without 12 children each. Back then, the 1960's, there was no diagnosis for these kids. No one had answers. Here's hoping things will change.

I am glad that Dr Wakefield has been exposed at last. I believe that autism is purely genetic. MMR cannot cause autism. If a child has autism after injections, it is just coincidence. Autism was there already and would have shown up eventually.

I should like to add that despite my son having so-called ‘learning difficulties’, despite his being unable to speak or be accepted by a school until he was about 10 years old, despite when he was small being referred to by a consultant as a ‘write-off’, despite my being told to stop sacrificing myself and to ‘put him in an institution and forget him’, eventually he progressed so well that he was able to attend University and graduated in computer science. I still have the letter from the education authority saying he could not be educated because of his ‘disability of mind’. I meant to frame it one day!

At the time of my son’s diagnosis the following thoughts popped into my head, as the medical people looked so solemn:

They told me you were Different - Autistic
I told them I was optimistic
How could they know
I love you so
Because you are - DIFFERENT!

The fact that Julie has posted here that there has never been a double-blind trial on vaccines using primate subjects illustrates the astounding level of ignorance on this subject among the supporters of McCarthy's dangerous and ill-conceived campaign.

Does this woman really think she is qualified to give medical advice the consequences of which are potentially fatal for people's children? She is nothing more nor less than an irresponsible crackpot.

The description of the GMC as a "kangaroo court" reveals how little the authors really know about science.

Unsurprising, considering the fact that the same pair advocate homeopathy.

The fact that a scientist may be generally respected and widely published in no way guarantees the quality of every report they produce. None of the arguments in the above article convince me that there is any merit in the view that Wakefield is in some way being "silenced".

I wonder whether these ill-informed and unqualified (although doubtless well-meaning) celebrities have any idea of the harm they do to their cause by making such allegations.

I am insulted that a double blind controlled study on primates has NEVER BEEN DONE before this and yet doctors -- supposed scientists -- insist I should subject my newborn daughter, and her completely immature immune system, to vaccines which are designed to irritate and stimulate her immune system.

Is it really so hard to believe that some children's immune systems do not respond well to immune interference??

Our kids are hit with a double whammy. Research shows that breast feeding (which is free) is needed to properly mature the human immune system, yet the majority of babies get formula made by pharmaceutical companies (ca-ching) by the time they are three months old. American pediatricians recommend one year of breast feeding, minimum. PLUS, their incomplete little immune systems are assaulted with immuno-irritants in the form of vaccines from Day 1, if parents consent to the hep shot.

Claimed "SAFETY" without testing is wishful thinking, not science.

It's NOT just autism I worry, as others point out. We have epidemics of life-threatening, chronic and acute, auto-immune disorders in kids -- diabetes, asthma, childhood cancers, even obesity.

After much research and reading, we decided to DELAY vaccination. We've decided to wait until she's at least a year old and has been breast fed at least a year before any vaccines. If I have my way, we'll wait until she's four, when the immune system is fully developed, and we'll go slow.

Any person with an understanding of basic science cannot deny that the current vaccine schedule is based on science that is INCOMPLETE, AT BEST.

The more loudly the pharmaceutical industry shouts down basic safety research, the more suspicious I become. They make money when women don't breast feed. They make money when babies get jabbed, and they make money treating chronic illnesses.

The profit motive here is undeniable. And so is the potential liability. But then, it took decades to take down the tobacco industry and we're seeing many of the same tactics here.

I am a mother of a child with autism in metro DC. I think it would be prudent for anyone who wants to explore this issue to read "Autism's False Prophets" b y Offit - particularly the young girl who is doing her persuasive essay.

I think what is missing in the autism picture besides the cause and cure is the developmental pattern. Studies are showing things such as gross motor delays in the first 6-9 months as well as formation of the mouth/nose can be indicators. The latter is important as it points to a genetic in utero cause to autism. I don't doubt that some environmental factor is at play with autism, but I think it is what PARENTS (and their gametes) were exposed to that is where the answer lies.

Secondly, we have to be very careful about the successes of "therapies". Developmentally delayed children are notorious for explosive development - not having a skill and then "instantly" acquiring it. It is impossible to ever really verify what helps when we do so much for these kids and time does march on in their own developmental pattern. As rotten as age 2-5 is for many of these kids, many high functioning ones have a "honeymoon" of progress ages 5-10. So it is hard to say if therapies are working or if a delayed neuro circuit has just found its switch.

EVERY child should be fed well - something this country doesn't do with processed foods - and supplemented where needed. It improves the functioning of every child - not just those with autism.

Again, thanks for letting me post. I don't think autism is in our kids vaccines. I think it is in something that Jim Kerry, Jenny McCarthy, me and a whole host of other people ate, drank, wore, breathed or something. It has caused an epigenetic change - and even if we don't have that environmental factor anymore - the gene pool may very well be altered for good.

Maybe obvious, but I would add David Kirby's book, Evidence of Harm for research, technical facts, and political history, www.NVIC.org for vaccine schedule timelines and other history, and Dan Olmsted's reporting for the Washington Times and here (AoA) regarding the Amish, patients at Homefirst Medical Services in Chicago, and Leo Kanner's early cases of autism.

I'm so impressed with your daughter's decision. Bryan Jepson's *Changing the Course of Autism* and Jenny McCarthy & Jerry Kartzinel's *Healing and Preventing Autism* come to mind right away. You might also search PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/) for articles on autism, like the Hannah Poling case (in Journal of Child Neurology, written up, I believe, by Andrew Zimmerman).

I think your daughter will want to talk about the biological plausibility of vaccine-induced autism, as well as looking at the numbers (to show that there has been an increase) and at the vaccine schedule itself (which you can probably find online, or in Deirdre Imus's book *Growing Up Green*).

Some other articles you should be able to find online (either through PubMed or otherwise): (1) Mady Hornig of Columbia University gave mercury to mice, which then developed autism. (2) Catherine DeSoto and Robert Hitlan of the University of Northern Iowa analyzed a data set involving hair and blood levels of mercury in autistic and neurotypical children, and found a statistically significant relationship between blood levels of mercury and diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder. (3) Research firm SurveyUSA undertook a telephone survey at the behest of advocacy group Generation Rescue, and found vaccinated boys born from 1990 to 1996 to be more than twice as likely to have autism as their never-vaccinated counterparts.

My 13 year old daughter convinced her English teacher why she should allow her to choose her Persausive Speech project of her own free will instead of from a prepared list of politically correct subjects. The project bears a weighted grade for an entire quarter. Her project, titled Are US Gov't mandated vaccines contributing to the rise of Autism?, was finally approved. However, she must provide 10 resources for her research, 4 of which must be books. So my question to all is, what books do you recommend and what advice can you offer her as she journey's through this research. My daughter chose this subject because we firmly believe there is a direct relationship. More importantly, we believe that the best way we can make a difference is to educate others through truth and integrity.

Does it make any sense that some parent would vaccinate their first child out the wazoo, and then "just happen" to NOT vaccinate their second child?

I love "keep in mind getting one of the vaccine-preventable diseases could kill a child..." bullshit. Oh really? Gosh, how irresponsible you were supposedly not vaccinating your second child, right? What was the logic there?

Ridiculous, made-up nonsense. People that pose as autism parents are the lowest form.

And it's not just autism, there is the metoeric rise in allergies, asthma, eczema. anaphalapsis and all at a time when we are obsessed with cleanliness, sterilizing all and sundry and of course the shock to the immature immune system of young children in of huge multiple invaccinations. This is no coincidence.

I am conviced that the concentrayed vaccination programme is why our sone has aspergers.

I actually saw the specialist today, he actually fought for the rights of parents of autistic children, and is very experienced. We asked him his opinion and he stated that yes, 30 years ago my son would not be considered Autistic. As of now he is considered PDD-NOS. He also said that 30 years ago SOME kids who were labelled mentally handicapped should actually have been labelled Autistic, and now would have been.

I guess to me there are just so many variables, and I, for one, would love a nice big proper study done on kids who have had vaccines and those who were not. :)

I'd be happy to buy the book for you. Can you set up a public wish list on Amazon? Call it something obvious, like Marcia's Jenny McCarthy Wish List. I'll search for it using your name (Marcia Brown), and I'll send you the book. That way, you won't have to show your address to a stranger :-) Just post another comment letting me know what you ended up calling the wish list, if that's OK.

I have 2 children with autism. My daughter received all vaccines on schedule - autism diaganosis was at 27 months. My son did not receive any vaccines. He was diagnosed with autism EARLIER at age 24 months. My son is MORE affected than my daughter. Eventually we gave him the vaccines so he could enter school. The vaccines had no effect on his progress or diagnosis. In my mind it will be very hard to prove that vaccines cause autism. Also, keep in mind that getting one of the diseases that vaccines prevent could kill the child. Autism is not a death sentence.

my name is marcia. i have a 10 yr. old boy who has autism. i've heard alot about jennys book. things have not been easy for us the past couple of years. just bad luck i guess. was wondering if anyone might have a used book for cheap?

The North Dakota study, the one above that produced 3.3 kids per 10,000 with autism, used the DSM-III criteria for autism. Today, we use the DSM-IV criteria for autism. Is DSM-IV radically more expansive than DSM-III? Let me ask a different question: was DSM-III so narrow as to miss 96.7% of the kids who today have an autism diagnosis?
There’s only one way to know, let’s look at the actual DSM-III criteria for autism:

E. Bizarre responses to various aspects of the environment, e.g., resistance to change, peculiar interest in or attachments to animate or inanimate objects.

F. Absence of delusions, hallucinations, loosening of associations, and incoherence as in Schizophrenia.

That’s it. That’s the DSM-III criteria for autism. Parents, what do you think? Remember, 96.7% of the kids of parents reading this site should NOT meet the criteria above (for the record my son, unfortunately, meets the 1980s criteria for autism, too…)

Anyone? Anyone with a kid with an ASD diagnosis who would have been given a clean bill of health in 1987? Remember, 96.7% of you should be out there! I’m going to take a risk here and say that those criteria sound a hell of a lot like our kids today.

The rise in the most disabling form of autism is what is causing most of the uproar, as well, the regressive form of autism coinciding with bowel disease onset has been a fairly recent development (within the past 20 years). Yes, doctors are probably diagnosing patients more often with the higher functioning form, but not with the % increase as the two other forms.

I´ve read all of jenny´s books and have decided to keep an open mind about it all. I truly feel as though she is on to something. Medically everything she has said makes perfect sense. What I have a hard time understanding is why people are so adiment to SCREAM and run the other way. Most especially when children are involved. We are supposed to protect them from this cruel world. I pray that the truth will be reavealed soon. As a mother of two i worry alot about how they will react to their vaccines....Thanks jenny for giving parents a chance to protect our children.

I don't understand how the rise of vaccines coincides with the rise of Autism, because 30 years ago my son wouldn't be considered Autistic, but in 2010 he is. He is 2.5 yrs old and is classified under the Autism Spectrum Disorder, but at the higher functioning.

30 yrs ago they would have passed him by, but not now. The doctors have broadened the definition, and now he is included as having Autism.

I'm just saying their is more to the story than the rise of vaccines. The definition for Autism has broadened, which means more kids will be diagnosed as such.

What Jenny + millions of other mothers know, is their own children, + that many people that r closest 2 the problem know exactly when it began. Don't ever stop fight'g, this study is a giant step in wak'g people up.

hi, i am an aussie mum, and an aunt to an autistic (who we beleive is a direct result of the injections) the problem is -world wide.... and i thank jenny for opening the eyes of the world! your books are insightful and moving.
daniel is really coming along with early intervention and a special classroom, hang on people... think about it did we need a special classroom, just for autistics 10 or 15 years ago???
and the nay-sayers can say what they like we know what happened to daniel, and every other family knows what happened to their little ones.
- find the connection guys
i have chosen to stop all vacc's to my boy, and i hope to god(or some higher being) that my little boy turns out ok.
we love you jen. and jim..... what a guy! such a role model for all mankind
bless you both! renee and cade
(sorry for any typo's - its 3am here)

Hi all again,
Sorry to those i have offended, was not my intention. My point was that there are simply medications being used out there (in response to jessica's earlier comment) - I didn't actually say I was in favour of them or that they should be taken by children with autism- I agree in that pumping people full of pills isn't the answer!

Yes, I realise the use of vitamins by Lee Silsby, my earlier comment was merely there as I thought it was slightly ironic them advertising considering the situation between vaccines and autism (and the resulting implications this research could have). Not one point did I say it was wrong to be using vitamins either - clearly there was a misunderstanding here.

Sorry again to those I have offended, perhaps it would be best if I now just signed off and left this conversation before it spirals out of control!
Regards,
Jon (med student)

jon "the med student" you are an idiot. my child is autistic and you obviously can not be a med student or if you are you need to pick another profession because you have no clue what you are talking about. My child does not need autism "medication". they are vitamins you can buy at walmart. and he doesn't need to be on anti psychotic medication. they are not sociopaths. they are children whose bodies do not work and develop the "normal" way and you have to research and learn what works for your own children. He takes iron and b12 and has speech and ot. And thats what has brought us from 1 word to over 50 in a year and a half. He smiles and hugs me and gives me kisses all from hard work not medication. You really need to watch what you say and how you say it and who you say it to because this is the wrong group of people to be acting like a dumb ass too.

My entire family, for three generations (that I can track), is blessed with high functioning Aspergers. I say "blessed" because different mindedness is not an affliction or illness.

We all agree that our guts and immune systems also work differently - hence the very real health problems we face in navigating our way through foodstuffs, vaccines and medications which are variously loaded with chemicals that we are best to avoid.

NZ has a high incidence of Autism and Aspergers. As an agricultural, island nation, over the years we have had more than our fair share of pest sprays applied indiscriminately to pastures and produce alike. Add an historically very sturdy vaccination programme and you have problems for everyone. However, I don't see these things as causal factors in Autism or Aspergers. But I do bleieve they sure as bad eggs make life suck for us.

Just goes to prove how woefully, pathetically unaware of their own ignorance med students are. That was a really, really, really stupid comment Jon. We all know what Lee Silsby sells, Jon, and more importantly WHY. You don't. You don't know the research, and you don't have the experience.

Stagmom, I love you! That was awesome! :) I've needed a laugh all morning! Classic!

Jon "med student" tell me, what harm did curcuma ever cause? None! How much harm has Risperdone and drugs like it caused? Well, I can only speak to my case sir, and the meds that were thrown at my issues have caused me to have a new condition, Rapid Heart Rate!! Which can go into cardiac arrest if one is not extra careful.

I think I will stick to my herbs and vitamins from now on, thank you. I rest my case.

The vast majority of parents doing biomed with their ASD child are trying to avoid drugs like Risperdone like the plague. Most ASD kids don't get put on Risperdone, what with its lovely side effects of boys developing breasts, growing tumors and kids murdering their parents. That FDA is on top of its game, I tell ya.

Making a big deal of AoA being sponsored by Lee Silsby is not only stupid, but a dead end. It's interesting you link to Lee Silsby's Enhansa page. Enhansa is not an "autism medication." It's just curcuma, a friggin' spice! But THAT is what we should be concerned about! Risperdone is cool, but curcuma should be condemned.

My liberal use of quotation marks is simply pointing out that people who sign off like you did very rarely are who they claim to be (as if it mattered anyways?).

R. Krensal;
Immunity to disease is passed on to our offspring at least for a short time, and mother's milk extends the length of time that a baby maintains that immunity. Which we all know. But let us turn that around; it is not an immunity to a disease that is passed on but how the immune system is reacting to something.

Even father's immune system amazingly is passed on to his offspring!!!! IT is documented in text books.

My daughter had Kawasaki's when she was little, Sed rates were very high for a decade at least. She recently decided she wanted to be a nurse and work in a psych hosptial with adolescent boys. She was required to take the Hep B vaccine - all three of them. Shortly after her last third vaccine she became very stiff and sick. Her sed rates are high again, indicating high inflammation of the blood vessels. Do you think if she decides to have a child right now that that child could run a risk of having an immune system that will make her baby have strokes (since newborns are so prone to them anyway). Maybe in about 10 years the sed rates go down - but is her immune system really okay, less dangerous over time to her children???? I fear that will will not be.

One more thing that needs to be researched, but since there is no such thing as vaccines injuries then of course there is not need for this research (I am being snarky here)

If older women causes autism (that is older women having children) how do you explain me? My mother was 21 years old when she had me! Which is very young. Yet here I am, still on the Spectrum, a young woman with Asperger's Syndrome.

As for the stress argument I've seen around, I call bulls*&t! Think to the women who had to live durring the pioneer days! Talk about stress! Far as I know, none of thier children had autism, or even Asperger's.

Try again!

*rant over...blush*

One witness to this I might put aside. Even two could be concindence. Millions of parents saying the same thing however? Come on! This is not rocket science!

Here's the link to the online version of SF Chron's insane, error-filled anonymous vaccine editorial featuring a picture of Jenny McCarthy. Comment there and provide a little education for Chronicle readers.

Since when is Vitamin C, probiotics or B-6 an "autism medication"? You do realize that Lee Silsby sells a whole slew of VITAMINS for children right? There is no such thing as an "autism medication," which if you knew the first thing about biomed you might understand that.

Oh, I am most definitely impressed with Jenny. She asked for, and received help and guidance from parents in the autism community. She made a promise to God that if He helped Evan recover, she would not turn her backs on OUR children, and she would spread the word that kids CAN and DO get better with proper treatment. She kept her promise, and has been a strong voice in our community ever since.

Some people talk the talk, but Jenny defintely walks the walk. That is why so many people love her. It has nothing to do with her celebrity or beauty. It is her heart and tenacity that we admire so much.

This is only the tip of the iceberg, Asperger's Syndrome may also be linked to these mercury induced autism. Has there been any studies done to the genetic damage being done to the parents which then pass unto their offspring. Our son has Asperger's and we don't know if we are to blame for his condition. We were both in the Army and were introduced to a slew of vaccinations, many by way of hypospray. Our dentistry may also have played a factor (mercury in fillings).I hate to imagine what our current military are being vaccinated with and what of their children's futures. Can anyone please provide more info into this???

Today's (2-7-2010) San Francisco Sunday Chronicle has an anonymous editorial hailing the GMC decision and flogging the same old talking points. But, get this, in the middle of the editorial is a picture of Jenny McCarthy so that you'll think that she wrote it--at least briefly.

I find it interesting that this site is sponsored by a company which makes autism medication - surely if the results of the research shows that autism is related to the vaccine, autism cases will go down alongside the profits of the pharmaceutical company!
-Jon (med student)

I have a 20 year old son who went through all the vaccinations in the US before we moved to the UK in 1997. I then had 2 further boys in 2006 and 2007, and as we had the choice in the UK as to whether we vaccinated our children, I did extensive research before proceeding due to the large increase in cases of Autism. All of the information available at the time is a complete blur, but I had read Dr Wakefield's study and didn't agree with how the media was portraying the study.

I count my blessings that although I proceeded with the vaccinations due to an outbreak in both measles and mumps in the area that we live due to the massive decrease in people choosing to vaccinate their children, they are both happy, healthy children. For this, I am very grateful as if I had it to do all over again, I don't know that I would proceed with all of the vaccinations on offer, if any.

At the end of the day, it should be a parent's choice to vaccinate, and should not be dictated by the government.

Has anyone read the findings of Dr. Andrew Moulden? He is also trying to inform the world about this issue - that vaccines are devastating to our health. He has brain imaging and photographs to show the affects, before and after, of vaccines. He says he can show the damage happening real time. Essentially, what is occurring are small strokes and we all having a breaking point. Very compelling. He is working so hard at trying to spread his message also.

To briefly summarize my view-point,i'm very much inclined to agree and side with dr wakefields studys and endeavors.he is and should be allowed to continue doing the right thing. He isn't in the wrong and,i think,should be praised for trying to help a very important and wide-spread condition.

And the drum beat goes on ....
Today, I received a letter from the University of Washington's autism study, of which my family became a participant many many many (at least 10) years ago. It says, "in an effort to identify the genes, or DNA, responsible for autism" they want to gather information from my extended relatives "including biological aunts and uncles, grandparents, and first cousins. This data may lead to new treatments for people with autism spectrum disorders."

If one gene study doesn't solve the problem, just do another one. Keep beating the drum, and get more funding and try to quell the broken families by saying that you are still studying, just be patient!

The timing of this letter is curious. It comes on the heals of passionate reactions to the Lancet retraction and is a failed and desperate attempt at answering the chorus of suffering parents asking the perpetual question of, "if it isn't vaccines, then what is it?"

When we enrolled in the UofW study, we were told they would share their findings with us in about 5 years. As a naive parent I was glad that at least somebody was doing SOMETHING! I have since woken from that foggy haze of a hope that lies with genetics. Now I believe that the drum beat of "it's genetics" is the only science they have left. Otherwise, studies like Wakefield's et al. would have been seriously considered.

the sad fact is that vaccination is based on fear - it trusts in the inability of the body to resist a virus - and a mechanistic way of looking at whole systems i.e the human body -rather than trusting the integrity of our bodies to work the way it was designed.

to assault a new borns body with toxic synthetic chemicals is part of the insanity in the first place but this insanity is considered normal - and fear dogma and propaganda exists to scare parents who are critical thinkers and sane - back into conformity at the expense of the health of their child - thus normalising autism as something that happens

we are seeing the same thing with the 'new' cancer vac Gardasil we saw the same thing with the 1970's flu vac, with the Hep B vac they couldn't sell to drug users who were the targeted audience - instead they gave it to babies all babies....that was insane - and the gullible bought it and many babies died and were injured and no admittance of any connection with the vacs has ever been acknowledged - thats strange in and of its self

the big fear is that if everyone doesn't vaccinate the world will have an outbreak of deadly virus out of control killing your children - BS what would really happen is that your child would develop a natural immunity and drug pushing pharmaceuticals would be out of business and so also would be primary health care

thank you both for writing this article and pointing out the monkey studies - what took them so long - now the world may finally begin to see what parents everywhere have intuitively felt

please people

educate before you vaccinate - our bodies are whole systems not separate mechanistic parts and I children need the healthiest start in life not one pumped full of highly toxic chemicals which has lead to further complications in later life - also still not recognized

"Results: Diarrhea was present in 78%, abdominal pain in 59% and constipation in 36%. Ileal and/or colonic lymphonodular hyperplasia (LNH), defined as the presence of an increased number of enlarged lymphoid follicles, often with hyperactive germinal centers, was present in 73.2%. Terminal ileum LNH presented visually in 67% and histologically in 73%. Colonic LNH was multifocal and presented histologically in 32%. Ileal and/or colonic inflammation presented in 74%, consisting primarily of active or chronic colitis (69%). Ileal inflammation presented in 35%. Presence of LNH significantly predicted mucosal inflammation. Patients with ileal and/or colonic LNH had lower mean/median age than those without; patients with ileal and/or colonic inflammation had lower mean/median age than those without. There was a significant association between ileo and/or colonic inflammation or LNH, and onset of developmental disorder; plateaued or regressive onset conferred greater risk than early onset.

Conclusions: Patients with autism or related disorders exhibiting chronic gastrointestinal symptoms demonstrate ileal or colonic inflammation upon light microscopic examination of biopsy tissue. Further work is needed to determine whether resolution of histopathology with appropriate therapy is accompanied by GI symptomatic and cognitive/behavioral improvement."

Balzola, F., et al., “Panenteric IBD-like disease in a patient with regressive autism shown for the first time by wireless capsule enteroscopy: Another piece in the jig-saw of the gut-brain syndrome?” American Journal of Gastroenterology, 2005. 100(4): p. 979- 981.

It's actually first children who are statistically more likely to be diagnosed than subsequent children who are born when mothers are, of course, older. This was first noticed by Kanner and then corroborated by current studies. This could be for two possible reasons. One supports the "body burden" theory-- pregnancy is the best chelator, after all, and earlier children get the brunt. Also, up to 50% of families who have one child who develops autism stop vaccinating subsequent children. There have been many studies which took a bite out of the "older mother" hypothesis-- it's not bearing out.

Also, Dr. Wakefield and colleagues are quite legitimately studying the effects of the vaccine schedule from 1990 through as late as 2006, when old stock of vaccines (including the HepB) was still being administered. No one has done a forensic analysis of that "old" schedule, though the potential victims of this schedule represent the wave of children currently factored as 1/110. It actually matters in retrospect what happened to them.

Studies of the effects of the old (until 2003) full-mercury Rhogam shots administered in pregnancy for Rh- women found a 50% increase in subsequent autism diagnoses for the offspring of these women. Giving full mercury flu shots in pregnancy, therefore, could be causing a similar jump. Timing is everything as they say.

Also, there are full mercury flu shots administered to infants as young as six months. I'm not sure why that isn't common knowledge. These were allowed even in states with mercury bans last year and this year where the bans were lifted for the H1N1 scare. The data can be found on the CDC website-- there are at least two full-thimerosal brands given to babies this young. Timing again.

Even if mercury in other infant shots were reduced or even absent, full mercury flu shots at six months combined with prenatal exposure to 25 mcg of thimerosal could conceivably increase the impact of mercury even beyond that which children were subjected to under the 1990's vaccine schedule. It compounds: if a child is born with damaged mitochondria due to prenatal mercury exposure, even the "trace" amounts they receive from today's schedule could have a much harder impact. Add the flu shot at 6 months and it may be lights out for many children.

No doubt prenatal exposures will be one of Dr. Wakefield's next investigations-- which is why industry seeks to stop him at all costs. They know which trees SHOULD be barked up and haven't been regarding vaccine safety research; and they know they have a scientist here who's bound to be barking in those directions eventually.

In the end, here's a few things which keep suspicions alive that vaccine mercury may play a role in the epidemic. The ethylmercury in thimerosal:

-Was in full amounts in old stock administered to children as late as 2006 (even 2007) along with the addition of full mercury flu shots.
-Stays in the brain indefinitely according to Burbacher.
-Is immunomodulatory, theoretically capable of amplifying the effects of certain viruses/collapsing the immune system-- an argument which could characterize mercury either as a facilitator to another central cause or a cause itself.
-Is capable of damaging/altering the blood-brain barrier, theoretically allowing pathogens/toxins greater access to the brain.
-Is mitochondrial toxic.
-Destroys tubulin in the brain.
-Is synergistic with testosterone, possibly accounting for higher rates of effected boys.
-Induces encephalopathy.
-Is mutagenic.
-Has never been studied for safety in pregnancy.
-Has never been independently researched in a vaccinated/unvacccinated study before now, and has still not been isolated in research studying the timed, combined impact of just ethylmercury doses given according to the current schedule or the past schedule.

The site has a breakdown of the studies which supposedly "exonerate" vaccines, exposing conflicts, study biases and outright fraud in some cases. The media fails to mention that the studies "proving" vaccine safety are junk science and, even if they were actually good science (which they are not), only investigate ONE vaccine ingredient among scores and ONE vaccine among dozens.

kudos and many thanks to jenny and her husband for having the chutzpah to be high profile about this issue...my son received the hep b in hospital before i could take him home, even tho he was only 4 pounds 7 ounces...and it was done without my knowledge or permission...i vaccinated all my children, (the son is adopted) who are in there mid and late twenties...back then the schedule of shots was less than these days...all of them were healthy and of normal birth weights...
my adoptive son received the hep b vaccine and spent the next one full month barely conscious...wouldnt even wake long enough to feed...i still didn't get it...then when he received his first set of vaccines at three months of age, he developed seizures which were violent and immediate to the vaccination...i vowed never again to let him receive these toxic stews...and no one can convince me that they were not to blame...since then he has been diagnosed with autism, and has had gastro 8ntestinal problems...the people who most staunchly defend these shots in the dark tend to be those who benefit most from the steady flow of patients sent to receive them...drug companies, doctors and even nurses (sorry peds nurse)
had i not forbade the vaccinations of my son further, i am sure his autism would be more severe...and the g.i. problems worse as well...
if anyone asks my opinion about vaccinating their child i refer them to the wealth of imformation contrary to the statements and alleged research done by those with vested interests in the concoctions..

When I try to debate the autism link to MMR issue, my supposedly informed friends just say that "Research has disproved any link". And want to leave it at that. But can anyone tell me WHERE I can see or READ this research ?

Most likely you yourself have given children any number of shots, or helped hold them down while another nurse or doctor did so. So your defense of vaccines is somewhat understandable. It would be extremely gut-wrenching to think that your actions, done with the most sincere good intentions, might possibly have harmed children rather than helping them. As a parent who held down my kids for vaccines, I too would sincerely like to believe that my kids were helped rather than harmed. Sadly I no longer have any confidence of that.

Criticizing the monkey study on the basis that thimerosal has been removed from the Hep B vaccine now and autism continues to rise indicates that you have not yet truly investigated this controversy. I sincerely hope that most kids are getting less exposure to thimerosal now than they did when my kids were babies, but there is much to suggest that is not truly the case.

It is like a shell game trying to figure out what is really going on. The thimerosal may be out of this vaccine, but not that one. It is out of (well, to be more accurate it is significantly reduced in) vaccines for infants, but it remains in vaccines given to pregnant moms. It remains in vaccines for older kids. And it remains in most of the flu vaccines which ARE given to toddlers and young children. Is the sum amount today the same or different from the mid-90's? Who can really say--the answer is unquestionably different for almost every kid, depending on which vaccines (and which formulation of each) they (and their pregnant or nursing moms) were given and when.

And then there was the "Autism Alarm" encouraging doctors to look for and diagnose autism--oddly this happened about the same time as the reduction of thimerosal in SOME vaccines. Wouldn't it be expected that greater advertising of a disorder, and instructions to doctors (who might not have had a clue before) to actively LOOK for this disorder might lead to an increase in diagnoses? That alone makes the number of diagnosed cases before and after reduction of thimerosal (in some vaccines) an invalid comparison; more diagnoses would be expected irregardless of other factors.

So saying that more diagnoses after thimerosal reduction indicates that thimerosal is not culpable is a statement based on incorrect assumptions--you can not logically draw that conclusion--all the data (both thimerosal exposure levels and diagnosis rates) have been tampered with!

The news media is now trying to say that since the Lancet withdrew Wakefield's paper, that somehow means that the vaccine scare is over, since (they say) his paper started it. What total nonsense! I didn't read about the MMR controversy until long after I learned of the concerns about thimerosal. Bernard's paper (2000) and the Simpsonwood event (2000) are the two things that alerted my interest/concerns. The 1991 Hilleman memo and the 1979 Wyeth memo (http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/08/by-dan-olmsted.html)
far predate Wakefield--and while those may not have alarmed the public--since the public wasn't privy to them--you can bet that both increased concern in some quarters. There are books regarding questions about vaccine safety that also predate Wakefield's 1998 publication (Shot in the Dark appears to have been first published in 1987). Indeed, questions about vaccine safety actually date back to their invention.

In light of that, it seems extremely odd that the questions raised have still NOT been asked, in a very careful, well-designed transparent study of (monkeys or humans) with a REAL control group (no vaccines of any sort & no placebos that actually contain the adjuvants and other ingredients). Since the questions haven't really been asked scientifically, they are most certainly not yet answered. (If someone actually knows of any study that fits the above criteria, thousands of people, including me, are waiting for you to bring it forward for review.)

Why is it that none of the news agencies mention any of that info in their discussion of the vaccine controversy? Is it because this "retraction" is part of the giant shell game, or is it because today's journalists are too lazy or too busy or too scared to actually investigate anything before they read/rewrite/publish the news releases that Pharma, CDC, the Lancet or whoever sends them?

We should all be asking why, exactly, a study on the effects and safety of multiple (or even single) vaccines WASN'T done on monkeys LONG before they were approved for human use, let alone mandated! It might be that today's kids aren't getting exposures to thimerosal equivalent to what they received in the 90's--but MY kids got the amount that was delivered in the 90's and I want to know what the effects on monkeys of that schedule with those vaccines actually is. I wish I had thought to ask that question BEFORE I held them down, screaming.

Aluminum seems to be the choice as a replacement for thimerosal, yet some info about the safety of that is anything but reassuring. (See Neuromolecular Med. 2007;9(1):83-100. Aluminum adjuvant linked to Gulf War illness induces motor neuron death in mice.--just for starters. You might also want to consider the evidence that aluminum multiplies the toxicity of mercury.)

I think parents whose kids are subject to today's vaccine schedule ought to be demanding immediate research on the effects of today's vaccine formulations on monkeys BEFORE agreeing to allow your children to become the test subjects. And if I were a pediatric nurse, I would be demanding to see the results of such a study BEFORE agreeing to administer any more vaccines, of any sort, to any more innocent and potentially very vulnerable children.

IMO the only "callous disregard for the suffering of children" that I see is that of ALL the pediatricians, pediatric nurses, public health officials, and "skeptics" who continue to promote (and administer vaccines) WITHOUT demanding immediate research into the effects of the vaccine schedule on monkeys, and WITHOUT demanding a study comparing the health, development, and learning abilities of vaccinated versus never vaccinated children.

Until the above is complete, my kids, and I, are simply not going to roll the dice again.

Pediatric Nurse & Parent of autistic child said, "I think the lady that posted about women having children at an older age may be closer to being on target than Jenny and her PR team."

Ms. Nurse, before birth control existed women kept having babies until they reached menopause, but autism was extremely rare. People noticed more Downs among children of older parents, but not more autism.

When I was pregnant at the age of 42 I was advised that I had an increased chance for syndromes involving too many or too few chromosones, meaning entire chromosones that did not pair up appropriately so that instead of a pair there are three (trisomy) or only one. But I was advised that my age did not raise the risk for other genetic problems.

Yes, thimerosal is not the ONLY culprit. Probably nothing is the ONLY culprit. There is also increasing mercury in the environment from many sources, including a huge increase in coal buring power plants in China without emission controls which emit mercury into the air that is wafted over the Pacific Ocean at high altitudes before raining down on the U.S., per the NY Times and LA Times. Perhaps this is why more autism was found in rainy areas in a study a couple of years ago.

There is still mercury in some vaccines, and there is a whole lot of other stuff in vaccines that can throw the immune system into disarray, especially when so many vaccines are given at such a young age. Many studies are showing inflammation and other sorts of immune system dysfunction as major factors in autism.

"Jenny and her PR team"? Your attitude is showing. How about Jenny and a whole bunch of extremely hard working parents and doctors who are trying to draw attention to causes of autism which are not popular with the medical and gov't establishment.

Kim ~ I know it's only February. Is it too soon to announce the 2010 comment of the year?

And apparently Merck and CDC both used the same photo of Dr. Gerberding with the US flag in background. Did the door between protecting and injecting children revolve so fast that there was no time for a new photo?

"thimerosal is neurotoxic. However, so is many of our common medications if taken in excess."

There is no need to even debate a statement like this. Someone looking objectively at the issue would immediately see through it and these days, alot more people fall into that objective-thinker category.

Hmm, bottle of thimerosal with skull and crossbones verses a bottle of aspirin....

HepB stopped being PRODUCED with thimerosal in 2007 (Engerix-B) but it was not a recall and they were not discarded. How many doses of the older version are still being administered even today?

Thank you Jenny and Jim for speaking out about the well funded, propaganda driven, media campaign to vilify Wakefield. The more we all do to keep this story alive and provide the ill-informed, or uninformed with the truth, the more likely we are to create a "100th monkey" experience. The time is coming when a critical mass will "get it". Till then we all have to play our part in spreading the truth and fostering this awakening. And when it happens, enlightened folks will look back on this time "and say how did they not get that autism was caused by genetic predispositions and environmental assaults? How did they not get that they shouldn't have injected vulnerable infants with multiple toxins to supposedly protect them from illnesses? And how the hell did they not embrace the safe and effective strategies to address the underlying metabolic dysfunctions that so many of these kids had? I think we're all tired of this insane debate, but getting these kids better, spreading the truth and keeping the Wakefield story alive until his work is vindicated is what's at hand.

Ped Nurse, you mentioned “Jenny and her PR team.” That is certainly hypocrisy when one considers that the CDC, with its responsibility to protect the “nation′s health” through “health promotion, prevention of disease, injury and disability,” and with a budget of 9 BILLION DOLLARS, and with a staff of 15 thousand people—uses its resources to make a statement about “anything but” the nation’s health. See http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2008/r080902.htm .
Perhaps the prefix “anything but” could be used with most of our federal agencies up to this point.
And apparently Merck and CDC both used the same photo of Dr. Gerberding with the US flag in background. Did the door between protecting and injecting children revolve so fast that there was no time for a new photo? See http://www.merck.com/newsroom/news-release-archive/corporate/2009_1221.html .

Ped Nurse, you also said “Thimerosal is neurotoxic. However, so is [are] many of our common medications if taken in excess.”

Nonetheless, the lower level of neurotoxicity of thimerosal has not been established.

Ped Nurse, consider that the CDC could have looked at the 2005 Burbacher et al paper showing mercury in the brain of infant monkeys from thimerosal and established a ZERO thimerosal policy. That same year Julie Gerberding, as head of the CDC, announced a budget of 8 BILLION DOLLARS and a staff of 15,000 people in 2005. See http://www.cdc.gov/futures/g_letter_04-21-05.htm .

But the CDC did not use that all the money and staff wisely and establish a ZERO thimerosal policy. Instead they continued to tell the public that vaccines with thimerosal were safe for children and pregnant women.

And right now do not hold your breath waiting for the CDC, still with billions of dollars and thousands of staff, to compare this Wakefield et al data to the primate study done by Burbacher et al and search for a correlation of brain injury from the higher levels of mercury in the brain.

And since you are a Ped Nurse, then you can do your part and use your access to the flu shot package inserts and warn each and every parent and pregnant woman that you see about this heavy metal that kills brain cells.

Thank you Liz, well said.. I totally agree... I grew up in the 60's and 70's, I knew no kids like this. Fastforward to today, my son has at least eight boys in his K-2 SPED class who have developmental delays.. that's just one school in one small town. Autism is everywhere.

I can't believe how many college educated adults (and I have a good friend who's among them) have bought into this false notion that the increase is due to better dx and that these kids were somehow overlooked.... kids who never received services in school yet somehow made it through just fine... I mean hello?

Have you made that very same criticism over the last 25 years everytime our public health agencies have shown graphs to indicate how "effective" their vaccines are? You know .. the graphs showing a steady, steep decline in communicable diseases AFTER the introduction of a vaccine? In fact, the entire universal childhood vaccine program is based upon the public health bureaucracies "correlation" of declining diseases being "caused" by vaccines.

However, there is a meaningful distinction between these two "graphical correlations".

Communicable diseases were in steady, steep decline for decades PRIOR to the introduction of vaccines .. due to improved sanitation, nutrition, medicines and living quarters. In fact .. if they did not tell you WHEN the vaccines were introduced .. you would not be able to determine it solely by looking at the graph .. because the diseases simply continued their steady, steep decline.

However, graphs showing a dramatic increase in chronic autoimmune disorders will correspond accordingly with graphs showing the dramatic increase in childhood vaccines in the 1980's.

Common sense suggests it is far more reasonable to believe the "correlation" between the dramatic, inexplicable INCREASE in autoimmune diseases that were far less common in ALL previous generations .. and .. at the very same time childhood vaccines were INCREASED dramatically .. may be a likely indicator the vaccines may be a CAUSATIVE contributing factor.

"Correlation doesn't equal causation. More kids are diagnosed with Autism today also because we are more aware of the effects and signs of Autism than people were in the 1980s"

Please allow the general public more common sense! I think children with autism - even mild autism like Aspergers - would have been noticed! Or else you're saying that the human race has grown more intelligent over the past 30 years. I don't think that's a valid conclusion, do you?

I am 62 - so old enough to remember my childhood, and my children's childhood. I had no friends who were autistic or behaved strangely in anyway, knew no families whose children were damaged in any way, apart from one teenager who lived in an iron lung because of polio. My children had no autistic friends in school (which is where they would have been if they had not been diagnosed, right?) Yet today, as a grandmother, I know several families who have autistic children. So do my friends. Where have they come from?

I reckon there are 2 reasons as to why there is more autism and other related 'disorders' now. Definately the vaccines but also that these children are sensitives that generally cannot filter out the insanity that is growing in our species, all the bullshit, lies, money, pollution/vaccines/additives etc, corruption. It is too much for their senses. They are here to get us to stop and look at life differently. Open our hearts to compassion and understanding, to slow down and stop all the bullshit materialism, to get back to nature and work together. They and their parents are true warriors changing the world.

Here is what is happening where I live, in the middle of no-where USA....I am telling every new mom that I know. I am sharing the story of my son Noah and I am not going to be quiet anymore. My family is sharing the story, ladies from church and teachers at school. I get to meet parents with new diagnosis and tell them there is hope. Autism 24/7 has made me persistent and stronger than I have ever been in my life. We are getting stronger and they don't like it!!

I just realized today that I'm a Wakefield parent-- one of the later ones. I didn't get to speak in court either. My kids are recovering because of the treatment they receive at Dr. Wakefield's clinic in Austin. The improvements are unmistakably from the treatments. We'll stand by the clinic forever.

I heard Dr. Wakefield's presentation of the macaque study and clearly the early findings from the HepB phase were explosive enough for industry to do just about anything they could to shut Dr. Wakefield and colleagues down.

Aside from the British MMR, GSK is the maker of Enerix B-- the Hepatitis B vaccine found to carry an elevated risk of CNS inflammation-- and dozens of other vaccines.

I see something very significant in the primate study. Currently, all hepatitis vaccines manufactured for the U.S. market contain either no thimerosal or only trace amounts. Why were they given a WEIGHT ADJUSTED DOSE OF THIMEROSAL containing the hepatitis vac instead of given the standard dose by weight of the standard vac administered to newborns? This study only proves what we already know; thimerosal is neurotoxic. However, so is many of our common medications if taken in excess.

Since the removal/reduction of thimerosal, the autism rate has not declined. Even given that we are diagnosing better today than fifteen years ago, you should still have seen a significant decrease in autism once thimerosal was removed/reduced--IF thirmerosal was the only culprit.

I think the lady that posted about women having children at an older age may be closer to being on target than Jenny and her PR team.

I'm not impressed with the primate study and have never been impressed with Jenny.

"This statement doesn't touch on anything I heard on NPR about how Wakefield was taking money from a lawyer suing vaccine makers? It's easy to accuse the media of getting out of hand without having a response to what they said."

It is time you begin to read instead of beliving everything you are told.

This explains so much. Reading this makes me want t-shirts that say, "Got 14 monkeys?" on the front and on the back, "Autism isn't contagious, Ignorance is." And maybe on the sleeve they should have "www.fourteenstudies.org" and some other fun links and quotes.

"Pharma may employ PR methods, but there is no orchestrated puppetry that can claim control over the publication of scientific research."

To Greg and others who feel this way:

Former editor-in-chief of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Marcia Angell, is an insider who knows that there is a tremendous about of orchestrated puppetry involved in the publication of scientific research.

She lays it all out with great concern in her shocking expose, "The Truth About the Drug Companies, How they Deceive Us and What to Do about It."

Not saying EVERY researcher has biases, but just saying what gets in print oftentimes has taken a deceptive route to get there.

Or how about this beauty from 2002 -
"The editors (NEJM) declared that they were dropping their policy stipulating that authors of review articles of medical studies could not have financial ties to drug companies whose medicines were being analyzed. The reason? The journal could no longer find enough independent experts".http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020805/newman20020725

I think it is about time people like Michael Moore start working on a film that focus on these issues vaccines can and do trigger autism in some kids, just like we now know that smoking do and can cause cancer, though not everyone will get it, why can't vaccines be looked at the same way? 36 doses of vaccine shots before a child reaches 3....that is just cruel. Other first world countries like Denmark, Norway have much better sense to do about 10-14 shots before a child turns three and look at thier autism rate.....much lower than the U.S.A.

You used the word "fantastical". Mark Blaxill spoke with actual researchers. I know this because I have attended conferences where I witnessed him ACTUALLY SPEAKING to researchers. (That's why Autism One in Chicago is so cool, even we parents get to do that!). Whether they were the ones in question I do not know but I know he has, in fact spoken to published autism researchers.

If you can post a video or some link of YOU speaking to an autism researcher, who might be willing to publicly admit that there is in fact absolutely no influence, whatsoever, from any pharmacuetical industry represetative, for example, through aproval or disaproval of grants, just let us know.

Christie@ "it's tiring seeing society constantly having to point the finger every which way to explain disorders".

Oh, so we 'accept' sick children for what they are and let them live and die in sickness. ...Or disorder is a new order in your world, and everything is hunky dory with being disabled and disordered. No need to explain or to heal, least special needs teachers have no jobs to go to. In this economic climate it must be great to know that your your market is growing, your job can only become more secure as more kids develop disorders. Lovely. Nothing to worry about or try explain.

Jenny and Jim could have remained quite about it all like John Travolta.They choice was a brave one (plus it is not just their opinion they have lived it and educated themselves about it.

Unlike Amanda Peet that reads statement given to her.

There is a difference, don't the public SEE?

I do feel for Travoltas (and it finally dawns on me that with fame comes more responisiblities for social issues).

I hope after a couple years of greiving, they will finally go through the anger stage and step in and help Jim and Jenny. it would make Jett's death meaningful, that is at least something to explain away such a beautiful boy's death.

I did read some where when he first came down with Kawasaki's his mother blamed a vaccine.

"The U.S. vaccine schedule has grown from 10 vaccines given to our children in the 1980s to 36 today, perfectly matching the dramatic rise in autism."

Correlation doesn't equal causation. More kids are diagnosed with Autism today also because we are more aware of the effects and signs of Autism than people were in the 1980s.

There are also more women having waiting to have children at an older age than in the 1980s, which at a certain point can also be linked to birth defects and developmental disorders.

This statement doesn't touch on anything I heard on NPR about how Wakefield was taking money from a lawyer suing vaccine makers? It's easy to accuse the media of getting out of hand without having a response to what they said.

I am all for questioning information, so I appreciate that there are people questioning vaccines, I just want it to be in a legitimate, honest manner with transparency.

As a teacher myself who has worked with special needs kids and watched the number of kids with autism, ADD, ADHD, and learning disabilities explode, I strongly disagree with you. Jenny is doing a great service by advocating MORE, not LESS, scientific inquiry into the cause of these disorders. It is people like you, who want to bury your head in the sand, who are standing in the way of science. For what purpose? Do you not want to help these children? Or are you just happy to have a paycheck yourself and indifferent to what will happen to these kids once their government-guaranteed education has run its course? That attitude, in my opinion, is inexcusable.

Christie,
I find it hard to comprehend your way of thinking. You peg Jenny as a celebrity and as passionate. Well, if you were a celebrity and passionate would you not use your voice in places where the masses of voices are not heeded?
If you are tired from watching society I suggest you request a weekend visit from a child on the spectrum I’m sure the parents would love the rest. And come Monday you would have a little more appreciation of what tired really is. Autism 24/7 is tiring; you are free to quit watching society. Autism parents are not free to take a day off from autism.
I am amazed that someone with your attitude is reading Age of Autism. Autism families come here for support, information, and networking. Why are you here? If you’re one of those who get their pleasure from stirring the pot, God help the children in your care.

I agree that it could also be one vaccine. But, I am not sure that the tests you suggest would have saved my son. He is one of the lucky few with a healthy immune system, a healthy gut, and no allergies whatsoever. His IgE is normal - not hyper. He does have some metabolic oddities - but nothing extreme. What he does suffer from is brain and central nervous system damage. Probably the result of encephalitis.

You could very possibly be a Lauren that has worked with Ed Cook on hunting down the elusive and expensive autism genes that have escaped your grasp these many years. If you are not what other purpose for your little visit here?

Will these monkeys (yes, macaques are monkeys, Lauren)... make that gene money disappear?